The Alberta Motor Transit Association officially broke ground Wednesday on a new 20,000-square-foot training facility.

The facility, the first of its kind in Western Canada, will allow the commercial driver industry association to have one location for complete driver training. It is expected to include a two-hectare test track as well as a driving simulator.

Projected to open in the fall of 2018, the AMTA facility will be located in the northeast section of Edmonton International Airport between RedTail Landing Golf Course and 36 Street E.

AMTA president Lorraine Card said that the new facility will improve road safety.

“Right now, there is no training facility, so people are training on public roadways,” she said.

Drivers may also train in parking lots at places like shopping centres during hours they are not open, she said.

One group that will especially benefit are immigrants who train for jobs as drivers, she sad.

“Some people new to Canada are getting trained on these large vehicles and going right on to a public roadway,” said Card. “We just believe this is a much safer way to do it.”

The facility won’t conduct the training; instead, it will be up to members to book it for their employees. Card said the optimum level of track bookings would be two eight-hour shifts a day, six days a week.

Having grown out of their current downtown Edmonton space, the AMTA and EIA were connected by Edmonton Economic Development to bring the new facility to life.

Myron Keehn, the airport’s vice-president, of commercial development, said the new facility fits in well with the airport’s development goal.

“(Creating) this centre of excellence around training and technology tied in with the overall real estate development of the airport,” he said.

Other training centres at the airport include Canadian North’s 737 training simulator and HNZ Topflight’s helicopter training simulator.

“We have over 300 acres (121 hectares) of active development going on,” said Tom Ruth, EIA president and CEO. He added that the new AMTA facility will help attract further new facilities to the airport.

Card declined to give the project’s estimated cost because some elements — like the track size — were still being negotiated